Rights groups target sponsors like Airbnb for Beijing Games
(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)In one corner are the 15 leading Olympic sponsors, many household names like Airbnb, Coca-Cola, Visa, Toyota, Samsung and General Electric. They have branded these the “Genocide Games” and are pressuring sponsors, the IOC and world sports federations to investigate. AdThousands of Olympic athletes are caught in the middle. “Once again athletes are being used as pawns,” said Rob Koehler, director general of Global Athlete, an advocacy group for Olympic athletes. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian responded to Blinken: "The most important thing should be repeated three times: China has no genocide; China has no genocide; China has no genocide, period.”AdPolak pointed out that the United Nations Genocide Convention spells out much of the behavior taking place in China.
IOC accused of ignoring human rights for 2022 Beijing Games
Groups representing ethnic minorities in China are again accusing the International Olympic Committee of ignoring widespread human rights abuses as the country prepares to hold the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Rights groups representing Tibetans, Uighurs, and others have sent an open letter to IOC President Thomas Bach and IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch, who oversees preparations for the Beijing Games. Rights groups speaking for Tibetans, Uighurs and others representing Hong Kong have sent an open letter to IOC President Thomas Bach and IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., who oversees preparations for the Beijing Games. Representative of rights groups met two months ago with IOC leaders but say their requests have been largely ignored. The IOC awarded the 2008 Summer Olympics to Beijing, arguing the event would improve human rights in China.
More questions on human rights for Beijing Winter Olympics
A coalition of human-rights groups has met with the International Olympic Committee over calls to pull the 2022 Winter Olympics out of Beijing. That was a constant theme at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Beijing wound up with the 2022 Winter Olympics almost by accident. The 2008 Olympics were supposed to change China. “In 2008 the international community strongly believed that bringing the Olympics to China would open up China,” Arkin said.
Ex-World Anti-Doping Agency President John Fahey dies at 75
John Fahey, a former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency and a key player in getting the 2000 Summer Olympics for Sydney, has died. New South Wales state government officials on Saturday confirmed Fahey's death, but gave no details. Fahey was premier of New South Wales from 1992 to 1995. Fahey retired from politics in 2001 shortly after being diagnosed with lung cancer, and had one of his lungs removed. When IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch announced Sydney as the winning bid, Fahey leapt out of his chair, turning to hug McGeoch.
Human rights groups ask IOC to move Olympics from China
Visitors to Chongli, one of the venues for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, past by the Olympics logo in Chongli in northern China's Hebei Province on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. China is host to the 2022 Winter Olympics with rumblings of a boycott and calls to remove the games from Beijing because of widespread human rights violations. China is host to the 2022 Winter Olympics with rumblings of a boycott and calls to move the games from Beijing because of alleged human rights violations. The world must ask whether China, slowly strangling an entire people, has the moral standing to host the 2022 Winter Olympics," it said. Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., the IOC member who oversees Beijing 2022, declined to answer questions from AP about reported human rights violations in Xinjiang and referred to comments from the IOC.